The only businesses Republicans support are gun sellers, megachurches, corrupt defense contractors & giant monopolies - and none of those are good for average Americans or the US economy…
Back in 2006-9, I worked for a tier two auto manufacturer. We made parts for many major auto manufacturers. We couldn't get work at that Canadian Toyota plant with our US companies; only our Canadian Tool and Die company had the skilled workers necessary to meet Toyota's precision parts demands. Healthcare costs may have been a consideration for Toyota to stay out of the US but there was more to it. Toyota used to be very precise. The US didn't have the talent to make their parts because....US Union shop corrosion. We Union busted or built where Unions were weak, hired unskilled labor at 1/3 the Union hourly rate and 'trained' them to run sophisticated CNC and other parts manufacturing machines. The Regan Union busting destroyed a lot of our skilled labor pool.
I’m confused. You claim unions dumbed down the workforce, then end by saying that Reagan’s union busting destroyed our workforce. What am I missing here??
Just as a person on a diet is living off the accumulated fat of years, America is also living off the accumulated fat of years, and is bound to starve itself into a 3rd world nation.
The irony is that the ultimate victim of this folly, will be the “libertarian”, fascist inclined, billionaires who wanted government out of their way to maintain the power that their ill gotten money has provided. When our society collapses, so will theirs The first victims will be the very people who danced to their pied piper: the patriarchal, misogynistic, racist, homo-transphobic, fascists.
Foreign policy driven by weapons sales and fossil fuel extraction. It's fine to say Putin is bad. But what happens when Zelenskyy gives a speech and says basically Ukraine should be in the business of weapons sales (the first item he mentions, when Ukraine was always known for natural resources) and fossil fuel extraction? How much can we blame Putin for that?
Maya D'Angelou said: "When somebody shows you who they are believe them. You just showed me, your not so circumspect pro Putin attitude. Your offense against Zelensky is a defense of Putin. The technnique you employ is called paltering
My comment was on US foreign policy, making the point that if you merely discuss domestic politics and historical concepts of fascism you take no account of the entire history since 1945, a history in which cheap and plentiful petroleum was made to form the core of a lot of domestic consumer and agricultural policies. Cheap fossil fuels and expensive deadly weapons formed the core of both our domestic and foreign policy, and that is barely appreciated. I highly recommend Marty Jeezer's "Dark Ages - America 1945-1960" for an incredibly great in-depth look at how not just agriculture but even cosmetic products came to be produced using petroleum, and how all this played out in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows you that what we have today in terms of policy goes back to decisions made about fossil fuels after ww 2. And you need not be liberal or this or that to understand it - I've gotten the lowdown from heads of transportation companies who understand what Eisenhower's national highway act was based on and how inefficient it is to move things around via trucks on highways rather than by rail or boat.
Some folks fall for the right-wing playbook in which all is black and white - and every comment reveals whether a person is good or bad, so that there can be no legitimate discourse about facts or ideologies without immediately resorting to "us and them." When after all, we're only ordinary men.
We know that our foreign policy is run by the oligarchs, always has been, that is why the Democratic party made foreign policy creds such a big deal, and why they put their thumb on the scale for Hillary, making sure that first she got her foreign policy credentials as Secretary of State.
That oligarchs, plutocrats, if wish own United States, Inc, is a given, but so what, when Democracy at home, when our home grown fascists are foaming at the mouth to kill gays, and women who are not submissive, when they wish to enslave American Descendants of Slaves. I can't worry about wages over seas, not when I am up to my head in sewage.
Labor and workers rights are a subset of what is really going on. What is really going on is class warfare, Bernie knew that. And we are so caught up in what the fascists are doing and plan on doing, that we can't worry about labor and workers rights at the moment.
Of course , if you are an old line populists, then the destruction of people of color protections and civil liberties, civil liberties and rights of gays, trans, women are irrelevant or worse an impediment to ones, personal social standing and control.
The book I noted makes a different case than "We know that our foreign policy is run by the oligarchs, always has been...." Mr Jeezer (who actually worked for Bernie in his earliest political campaigns) asserts that FDR had no real option but to concentrate the economy for wartime production into the hands of 60 some-odd companies. When Truman succeeded him, Truman lacked the political power and wherewithall to effectively reverse how the wartime economy resulted in such a concentration of economic power, leading even his political rival Eisenhower, to give his most important speech warning about a military-industrial complex. This is a great book. I was lucky to find a copy at a used book sale.
Agree with lots of what you say here. Just pointing out whether right or left most that have studied it see how much the decisions to move toward cars, roads and parking lots, and away from trains and public transport, have played out here. Aside from the fossil fuel-related interests of GM and Goodyear, which were politically critical in pushing for national highway act, all kinds of cultural and human results followed. Some of this is documented in the story of Robert Moses and his public works projects, and how they crushed and divided longstanding communities. More analysis needs to be done that takes this into account - and we see it playing out again with so-called "self driving cars," an absurd name for a proposed transportation system run by tech companies.
Well seems like we are in the same boat at this point. I am well aware how GM bought up the LA trolley system, then fore up the tracks I think Firestone was in on it. I am also aware how Ike's, Interstate Defense Hiway, was corrupted by state politicians and destroy communities.
I am also aware how communities routed interstate bypasses to isolate poor communities, mostly people of color.
But it looks like karma has its way once in awhile. Places like Hammond, Indiana, have to contend with rail road cars a mile long as they block RR crossings as they park (in Hammond it is five such crossings) when a complaint was made to Norfolk Southern they answered saying "We were here before you", and it is true. Greedy developer, like sharks they have to keep in motion or they die.
Developers saw a patch of undeveloped land in Hammond, Indiana and of course, use our pension fund money, built on it. They even built over a railroad holding yard, (in the air), a virtual community including a mall. Another developer limited by existing facilities and zoning laws, took a 60 ft wide piece of property, wedged between two buildings, built up until he cleared the tallest building then he built out horizontally and vertically.
I would never put my safety in the hands of the likes of Elon Musk.
There is a lot to be said for old tech. I had a 1970 Maverick, drove it for 12 years,and hard, even down the Pan American highway. Carried a flat head screw drive . a pair of pliers and an adjustable jaw rent.
Did my own repairs including removing the engine head, replacing brakes, and coating the gas tank with an aircraft grade epoxy paint. Some a hole stole my gas cap and rain got in, leading eventually to rust in the gas line (hence the pliers and screwdriver to replace the fuel filter)
Eventually the bottom of the tank fall off, but the epoxy paint held.
Nails on a chalkboard come to mind when I hear someone say that our country should be run by a business person or like a business. The single most over-represented thing in the US is the business world. It is extreme within local governments. The undue influence they wield is outrageous there.
Your point is well taken, though. Also, Republican policies or lack of regulation pick the winners and losers. Business owners are set-up to fail when local, state, and national politicians are allowed to take money from anywhere and everyone.
The issues of unions and decent education opportunities have really hit home with American youth. They are also savvy about the fact that business wants their loyalty knowing damn well they will get none in return---that tracks with ethically challenged Republicans.
We are no longer an economy based on Business; Reagan allowed it to become one based on Finance. Thus Wall Street now directs our businesses. To its own benefit
The business of America USED to be business. The Reagan policies changed our economy to a financial model. That’s when Wall St became the major player in our economy
The Powell memo provided a blueprint for the corporations to attack and eliminate the unions from the political scene. Easiest way to put unions out of business was to ship formerly union jobs to the red states and then to Mexico and later to Asia. It has been very effective in having Democratic Party candidates lining up along with their Republican chorts at the banks and Wal Street and oil companies for "donations" that are legal bribes.
It should be noted that Hitler needed the backing of the German industrialists and he only needed to promise to ban worker unions. Collective bargaining by workers is the last thing that capitalists want as they would have to share the fruits of the workers' labors - heaven forbid.
We need more state and local coverage. Nys is ground zero of democratic failure. A very important case is being brought upstate concerning the most devasting limo crash ever, and it's barely covered in nyc or mainstream media because it lacks words like trump or desantis.
John heilemann was quick to turn an msnbc conversation this morning into a small-minded thing about Biden's prospects being at risk if a recession. Meanwhile all market commentators say that recession risk is more this year than next, with next year more likely on the upswing by the main part of the campaign. I Switched over the channels and at fox I saw heilemann's statement (not attributed to him, just as a separate statement) being made the same way - as a prominent caption on the screen.
So both Heilemann (msnbc) and fox, at exactly the same time on the same day are putting out the same message, which is not "oh look - Jerome Powell is causing a recession." No it's just this: "Biden's chances are dependent on risk of recession." If there's a recession let's connect that to biden.
Not democracy, not Supreme Court not common decency, not rule of law, no, none of tgat us very important to John Heilemann , just ..... the risk of a recession.... same as on Fox News.
Maybe the US should do away with all political parties and elect people on their platforms, what they propose to do to help the most Americans. The party systems promote adversity, and we need to all row together or this boat's going to sink. I am a registered Democrat because their focus is closer aligned with mine, but they too have problem people. If we all focused more on the issues instead of the Parties, we could be better off. What if we voted for the candidate and not their affiliations? After overturning Citizen's United, of course. because as long as the corporations can continue to buy the congress, we aren't going to change much.
Sounds like you haven't done a lot of thinking about how political parties -- and organizations -- come about. Some things can be done by one person acting alone, but not all that much. Workers made little headway against powerful employers without unions. Black people made little headway against segregation and Southern racism without organizing. Women learned from labor and the civil rights movement and *organized*. Etc.
It's very true that most statewide Democratic parties leave a lot to be desired, including the one in my state (MA). That's mainly because most Democrats don't pay much attention to the party structure, so it falls into the hands of apparatchiks. Meanwhile Democrats are putting a lot of their energy into organizations like Swing Left, Emerge, Indivisible, Color of Change, etc. -- which then bring some pressure to bear on the party structures.
"Voting for the candidate and not their affiliations" can and does work on the very local level. (Our town elections are non-partisan.) This is because it's not all that hard to find out about candidates by word of mouth, local media, and maybe a forum put on by the League of Women Voters or comparable non-partisan group. This is pretty much impossible on the regional, state, or national level. Without an organization, you might as well just get up on your soapbox and talk to everyone within hailing distance.
Our problem is finally coming into focus. Thom Hartmann and who knows how many other intelligent people honestly believe that there can be a “common core” curriculum which can entail and impose “new high(er) standards for high school graduation and that criticizing the rotten-to-the-core common curriculum, is attacking “public education”. My God, where have you been for the last 100 years? Public education? “AAA + public education”. You cannot be serious!
Please ask yourself why you find it so necessary to casually dismiss totally the phenomenal body of literature that has arisen primarily out of the school community itself, which points to a bevy of monumental conflicts and failures going back generations. I have offered many times to provide all the research data and empirical evidence you could ask for showing profound deficiencies and harms to millions of students. I have a document of over thirty pages that was sent months ago but apparently ignored. I have recommended innumerable articles and books in the last several years. They call that willful ignorance in some quarters.
Authoritarianism is not the opposite side of a two-sided coin. Authoritarianism is the means by which the coins of decency, equality, democracy, justice, and brotherhood are melted down into a hazardous hot liquid.
We cannot manage authoritarianism as guardians and influencers. We cannot dilute or neutralize arbitrary authority into a safe and innocuous form that can be utilized routinely in schools to train and condition our children without having it morph inexorably and unobtrusively into its mature and inimical end-product. Arbitrary authority begets authoritarianism. Denial or ignorance of that fact signals the end of democratic governance. Students learn what they live, and they believe to their core what is repetitiously presented to them as right and good and essential.
If strict obedience is the first rule, critical thinking is the exception to the rule. If the curriculum is a given, discovery has been arbitrarily removed and cannot be improvised and fabricated. If officials have power, students, teachers, and parents are deprived of power in equal and opposite measure. If there are to be winners, there are to be losers. If experience is lived as a part of the mass, the school experience is something demonstrably different from education. Tell it like it is. Tell the world. The world needs to know. Now.
“Hyperactivity is an iatrogenic disease created by schools” says Cody Jones. Jones notes that a “hyperactive” kid has no problem paying attention when playing video games for hours. That is so true. And, a quote from the “Existential Knowledge Foundation” website on 4/19/23 is revealing as well. They say,
“Learn the world, not just the word. BECOME CREATORS OF KNOWLEDGE, not analyzers of information”.
Common core is the ludicrous and futile attempt to create formulae and codify a specific minimal set of facts and data sets that can somehow be imposed and superimposed on the minds of students so they won’t be completely ignorant. The idea is absurd on its face and all the neuroscience, educational theory, and historical literature in existence proves that. I am astounded that this stuff keeps repeating and undermining authentic educational endeavors, few of which are permitted in a traditional school. Shame on anyone who is in denial. Those who insist on believing the mythology and refusing to face the hard truth are no less guilty of destroying education in the US as well as public schooling. Shame on you.
This is a list of some of the most important topics in our country, right now.
Thanks Thom , once again for seeking the truth and reporting it without spin.
What the Republican party has done over the years to ordinary citizens and their ability to thrive in the economy is truly evil.
It is as self serving and hateful as man has ever seen.
This is not how we should have to live. Yet they are manipulating and trashing our free elections so deviously , its beyond frightening .
Democrats need to get out in numbers never seen before to offset this evil.
Back in 2006-9, I worked for a tier two auto manufacturer. We made parts for many major auto manufacturers. We couldn't get work at that Canadian Toyota plant with our US companies; only our Canadian Tool and Die company had the skilled workers necessary to meet Toyota's precision parts demands. Healthcare costs may have been a consideration for Toyota to stay out of the US but there was more to it. Toyota used to be very precise. The US didn't have the talent to make their parts because....US Union shop corrosion. We Union busted or built where Unions were weak, hired unskilled labor at 1/3 the Union hourly rate and 'trained' them to run sophisticated CNC and other parts manufacturing machines. The Regan Union busting destroyed a lot of our skilled labor pool.
I’m confused. You claim unions dumbed down the workforce, then end by saying that Reagan’s union busting destroyed our workforce. What am I missing here??
Just as a person on a diet is living off the accumulated fat of years, America is also living off the accumulated fat of years, and is bound to starve itself into a 3rd world nation.
The irony is that the ultimate victim of this folly, will be the “libertarian”, fascist inclined, billionaires who wanted government out of their way to maintain the power that their ill gotten money has provided. When our society collapses, so will theirs The first victims will be the very people who danced to their pied piper: the patriarchal, misogynistic, racist, homo-transphobic, fascists.
Confronting the roots of fascism, https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/185548
Foreign policy driven by weapons sales and fossil fuel extraction. It's fine to say Putin is bad. But what happens when Zelenskyy gives a speech and says basically Ukraine should be in the business of weapons sales (the first item he mentions, when Ukraine was always known for natural resources) and fossil fuel extraction? How much can we blame Putin for that?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26089450
Maya D'Angelou said: "When somebody shows you who they are believe them. You just showed me, your not so circumspect pro Putin attitude. Your offense against Zelensky is a defense of Putin. The technnique you employ is called paltering
My comment was on US foreign policy, making the point that if you merely discuss domestic politics and historical concepts of fascism you take no account of the entire history since 1945, a history in which cheap and plentiful petroleum was made to form the core of a lot of domestic consumer and agricultural policies. Cheap fossil fuels and expensive deadly weapons formed the core of both our domestic and foreign policy, and that is barely appreciated. I highly recommend Marty Jeezer's "Dark Ages - America 1945-1960" for an incredibly great in-depth look at how not just agriculture but even cosmetic products came to be produced using petroleum, and how all this played out in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows you that what we have today in terms of policy goes back to decisions made about fossil fuels after ww 2. And you need not be liberal or this or that to understand it - I've gotten the lowdown from heads of transportation companies who understand what Eisenhower's national highway act was based on and how inefficient it is to move things around via trucks on highways rather than by rail or boat.
Some folks fall for the right-wing playbook in which all is black and white - and every comment reveals whether a person is good or bad, so that there can be no legitimate discourse about facts or ideologies without immediately resorting to "us and them." When after all, we're only ordinary men.
And what does our foreign policy say, for example, about labor and workers rights? No, not much of a topic on either msnbc or fox today.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-labour-law-wrecks-workers-rights/
We know that our foreign policy is run by the oligarchs, always has been, that is why the Democratic party made foreign policy creds such a big deal, and why they put their thumb on the scale for Hillary, making sure that first she got her foreign policy credentials as Secretary of State.
That oligarchs, plutocrats, if wish own United States, Inc, is a given, but so what, when Democracy at home, when our home grown fascists are foaming at the mouth to kill gays, and women who are not submissive, when they wish to enslave American Descendants of Slaves. I can't worry about wages over seas, not when I am up to my head in sewage.
Labor and workers rights are a subset of what is really going on. What is really going on is class warfare, Bernie knew that. And we are so caught up in what the fascists are doing and plan on doing, that we can't worry about labor and workers rights at the moment.
Of course , if you are an old line populists, then the destruction of people of color protections and civil liberties, civil liberties and rights of gays, trans, women are irrelevant or worse an impediment to ones, personal social standing and control.
That being the case, this article is of interest, I subtitle it as From Right wing populism to fascism. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/185548
The book I noted makes a different case than "We know that our foreign policy is run by the oligarchs, always has been...." Mr Jeezer (who actually worked for Bernie in his earliest political campaigns) asserts that FDR had no real option but to concentrate the economy for wartime production into the hands of 60 some-odd companies. When Truman succeeded him, Truman lacked the political power and wherewithall to effectively reverse how the wartime economy resulted in such a concentration of economic power, leading even his political rival Eisenhower, to give his most important speech warning about a military-industrial complex. This is a great book. I was lucky to find a copy at a used book sale.
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Ages-United-States-1945-1960/dp/0896081273
Agree with lots of what you say here. Just pointing out whether right or left most that have studied it see how much the decisions to move toward cars, roads and parking lots, and away from trains and public transport, have played out here. Aside from the fossil fuel-related interests of GM and Goodyear, which were politically critical in pushing for national highway act, all kinds of cultural and human results followed. Some of this is documented in the story of Robert Moses and his public works projects, and how they crushed and divided longstanding communities. More analysis needs to be done that takes this into account - and we see it playing out again with so-called "self driving cars," an absurd name for a proposed transportation system run by tech companies.
Well seems like we are in the same boat at this point. I am well aware how GM bought up the LA trolley system, then fore up the tracks I think Firestone was in on it. I am also aware how Ike's, Interstate Defense Hiway, was corrupted by state politicians and destroy communities.
I am also aware how communities routed interstate bypasses to isolate poor communities, mostly people of color.
But it looks like karma has its way once in awhile. Places like Hammond, Indiana, have to contend with rail road cars a mile long as they block RR crossings as they park (in Hammond it is five such crossings) when a complaint was made to Norfolk Southern they answered saying "We were here before you", and it is true. Greedy developer, like sharks they have to keep in motion or they die.
Developers saw a patch of undeveloped land in Hammond, Indiana and of course, use our pension fund money, built on it. They even built over a railroad holding yard, (in the air), a virtual community including a mall. Another developer limited by existing facilities and zoning laws, took a 60 ft wide piece of property, wedged between two buildings, built up until he cleared the tallest building then he built out horizontally and vertically.
I would never put my safety in the hands of the likes of Elon Musk.
There is a lot to be said for old tech. I had a 1970 Maverick, drove it for 12 years,and hard, even down the Pan American highway. Carried a flat head screw drive . a pair of pliers and an adjustable jaw rent.
Did my own repairs including removing the engine head, replacing brakes, and coating the gas tank with an aircraft grade epoxy paint. Some a hole stole my gas cap and rain got in, leading eventually to rust in the gas line (hence the pliers and screwdriver to replace the fuel filter)
Eventually the bottom of the tank fall off, but the epoxy paint held.
Nails on a chalkboard come to mind when I hear someone say that our country should be run by a business person or like a business. The single most over-represented thing in the US is the business world. It is extreme within local governments. The undue influence they wield is outrageous there.
Your point is well taken, though. Also, Republican policies or lack of regulation pick the winners and losers. Business owners are set-up to fail when local, state, and national politicians are allowed to take money from anywhere and everyone.
The issues of unions and decent education opportunities have really hit home with American youth. They are also savvy about the fact that business wants their loyalty knowing damn well they will get none in return---that tracks with ethically challenged Republicans.
We are no longer an economy based on Business; Reagan allowed it to become one based on Finance. Thus Wall Street now directs our businesses. To its own benefit
The business of America USED to be business. The Reagan policies changed our economy to a financial model. That’s when Wall St became the major player in our economy
The Powell memo provided a blueprint for the corporations to attack and eliminate the unions from the political scene. Easiest way to put unions out of business was to ship formerly union jobs to the red states and then to Mexico and later to Asia. It has been very effective in having Democratic Party candidates lining up along with their Republican chorts at the banks and Wal Street and oil companies for "donations" that are legal bribes.
It should be noted that Hitler needed the backing of the German industrialists and he only needed to promise to ban worker unions. Collective bargaining by workers is the last thing that capitalists want as they would have to share the fruits of the workers' labors - heaven forbid.
We need more state and local coverage. Nys is ground zero of democratic failure. A very important case is being brought upstate concerning the most devasting limo crash ever, and it's barely covered in nyc or mainstream media because it lacks words like trump or desantis.
John heilemann was quick to turn an msnbc conversation this morning into a small-minded thing about Biden's prospects being at risk if a recession. Meanwhile all market commentators say that recession risk is more this year than next, with next year more likely on the upswing by the main part of the campaign. I Switched over the channels and at fox I saw heilemann's statement (not attributed to him, just as a separate statement) being made the same way - as a prominent caption on the screen.
So both Heilemann (msnbc) and fox, at exactly the same time on the same day are putting out the same message, which is not "oh look - Jerome Powell is causing a recession." No it's just this: "Biden's chances are dependent on risk of recession." If there's a recession let's connect that to biden.
Not democracy, not Supreme Court not common decency, not rule of law, no, none of tgat us very important to John Heilemann , just ..... the risk of a recession.... same as on Fox News.
Maybe the US should do away with all political parties and elect people on their platforms, what they propose to do to help the most Americans. The party systems promote adversity, and we need to all row together or this boat's going to sink. I am a registered Democrat because their focus is closer aligned with mine, but they too have problem people. If we all focused more on the issues instead of the Parties, we could be better off. What if we voted for the candidate and not their affiliations? After overturning Citizen's United, of course. because as long as the corporations can continue to buy the congress, we aren't going to change much.
Sounds like you haven't done a lot of thinking about how political parties -- and organizations -- come about. Some things can be done by one person acting alone, but not all that much. Workers made little headway against powerful employers without unions. Black people made little headway against segregation and Southern racism without organizing. Women learned from labor and the civil rights movement and *organized*. Etc.
It's very true that most statewide Democratic parties leave a lot to be desired, including the one in my state (MA). That's mainly because most Democrats don't pay much attention to the party structure, so it falls into the hands of apparatchiks. Meanwhile Democrats are putting a lot of their energy into organizations like Swing Left, Emerge, Indivisible, Color of Change, etc. -- which then bring some pressure to bear on the party structures.
"Voting for the candidate and not their affiliations" can and does work on the very local level. (Our town elections are non-partisan.) This is because it's not all that hard to find out about candidates by word of mouth, local media, and maybe a forum put on by the League of Women Voters or comparable non-partisan group. This is pretty much impossible on the regional, state, or national level. Without an organization, you might as well just get up on your soapbox and talk to everyone within hailing distance.
Our problem is finally coming into focus. Thom Hartmann and who knows how many other intelligent people honestly believe that there can be a “common core” curriculum which can entail and impose “new high(er) standards for high school graduation and that criticizing the rotten-to-the-core common curriculum, is attacking “public education”. My God, where have you been for the last 100 years? Public education? “AAA + public education”. You cannot be serious!
Please ask yourself why you find it so necessary to casually dismiss totally the phenomenal body of literature that has arisen primarily out of the school community itself, which points to a bevy of monumental conflicts and failures going back generations. I have offered many times to provide all the research data and empirical evidence you could ask for showing profound deficiencies and harms to millions of students. I have a document of over thirty pages that was sent months ago but apparently ignored. I have recommended innumerable articles and books in the last several years. They call that willful ignorance in some quarters.
Authoritarianism is not the opposite side of a two-sided coin. Authoritarianism is the means by which the coins of decency, equality, democracy, justice, and brotherhood are melted down into a hazardous hot liquid.
We cannot manage authoritarianism as guardians and influencers. We cannot dilute or neutralize arbitrary authority into a safe and innocuous form that can be utilized routinely in schools to train and condition our children without having it morph inexorably and unobtrusively into its mature and inimical end-product. Arbitrary authority begets authoritarianism. Denial or ignorance of that fact signals the end of democratic governance. Students learn what they live, and they believe to their core what is repetitiously presented to them as right and good and essential.
If strict obedience is the first rule, critical thinking is the exception to the rule. If the curriculum is a given, discovery has been arbitrarily removed and cannot be improvised and fabricated. If officials have power, students, teachers, and parents are deprived of power in equal and opposite measure. If there are to be winners, there are to be losers. If experience is lived as a part of the mass, the school experience is something demonstrably different from education. Tell it like it is. Tell the world. The world needs to know. Now.
“Hyperactivity is an iatrogenic disease created by schools” says Cody Jones. Jones notes that a “hyperactive” kid has no problem paying attention when playing video games for hours. That is so true. And, a quote from the “Existential Knowledge Foundation” website on 4/19/23 is revealing as well. They say,
“Learn the world, not just the word. BECOME CREATORS OF KNOWLEDGE, not analyzers of information”.
Common core is the ludicrous and futile attempt to create formulae and codify a specific minimal set of facts and data sets that can somehow be imposed and superimposed on the minds of students so they won’t be completely ignorant. The idea is absurd on its face and all the neuroscience, educational theory, and historical literature in existence proves that. I am astounded that this stuff keeps repeating and undermining authentic educational endeavors, few of which are permitted in a traditional school. Shame on anyone who is in denial. Those who insist on believing the mythology and refusing to face the hard truth are no less guilty of destroying education in the US as well as public schooling. Shame on you.